Keywords are assigned to module, section, or topic documents from the Library or Outline Editor. You can select a single or multiple documents and assign one or more keywords to the selection.

There is no limit on the number of characters in a keyword, nor is there a limit to the number of keywords a document may contain. However, the Keywords field is limited to a total of 1024 characters. Multiple keywords in the same document are separated by a comma (,), for example, "order, payment, vendor". Spaces added before or after a keyword are ignored.

Note: You can copy a comma delimited list of words from Microsoft Word or Notepad and paste it into the Keywords field. The copied text cannot include paragraph marks.

Keywords are not case sensitive, you can type them in upper or lower case. If the keyword for topic A is "print" and the keyword for topic B is "Print", both topics A and B are indexed under the same keyword "print". The Developer automatically reorders the keywords for a document in alphabetical order and removes any duplicate keyword entries.

Note: Although you can enter a phrase (multiple words separated by spaces) for a single keyword entry, the Developer treats each word in the phrase as a single keyword. The Developer will not remove a duplicate word if it is part of a phrase.

Warning! Be careful when changing a property for multiple documents that already contain values for the same property. The new values you enter for the property overwrite any existing values for all selected documents. To assign additional keywords to multiple documents, see Rules for Assigning and Deleting Keywords in the Keywords Property section of the General Properties section of the View Document Properties chapter of this manual.

Multi-user Considerations

Before you can perform this action, you must check out the document. After you save any changes, you should check in the document to make it available to other authors and add the changes to the Developer's version control system.

In a multiple selection, you cannot add, edit or delete keywords unless all documents are checked out.

To assign a keyword:

Display the Properties toolpane.

In the Library or Outline Editor, select the topics(s) to which you want to assign a keyword.

You can select multiple documents using the standard Windows selection keys (CTRL+click and SHIFT+click).

In the General category, click the Keywords cell.

Type the first keyword.

To assign additional keywords, type a comma (,) and then type the next keyword.

Note: To append a keyword to existing keywords, click at the end of the keywords, type a comma and the new keyword.

Note: You can move or copy keywords from one topic to another. You can right-click in the Keywords cell and use the commands on the context menu to cut, copy, and paste selected keywords. You can also use the Select All command to select all the keywords in the cell.